The end of an era

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:37-40)

This past week marked the end of an era for me. For the past ten years, I have spent part of the second Wednesday of every month leading a worship service at Glastonbury Health Care Center. Due to my changing schedule, I won’t be able to continue there for the foreseeable future, and with the recent move of one of two of our church members to an assisted living facility in Glastonbury, I am looking at beginning a new ministry in that facility. As I move on from GHCC, I wanted to share a few lessons I’ve learned in my ten years there.

• Longevity matters – I began leading a worship service at GHCC ten years ago, when Mary Grove, one of our church members, was a resident there. A few years later, she moved on to another facility, and eventually passed away a couple of years ago. But I believe my ability to be a steady presence in the lives of both the residents and staff over the past ten years was surely used by God, even if I couldn’t see the fruit. Every month, I preached God’s Word and shared the gospel with them. And every month we closed by singing Amazing Grace. As you can imagine, it was hard to know who was actually listening and just how much they understood. But I believe that my role was to faithfully plant the seeds; it is the Lord’s role to make them grow (1 Corinthians 3:5-7). Consider where in your life you can be a steady witness, faithfully planting seeds.

• Routine matters – There are many different aspects to my job – preaching, writing, pastoral care, counseling, management, leadership, administration, evangelism, etc. Some of those aspects can easily get pushed to the side by more urgent matters, and visiting nursing homes (and those who live there) is one of those things. Visiting men and women confined to a nursing home may not be “strategic” from the perspective of church leadership and growth, but Jesus tells us plainly to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Him (Matthew 25:40). I have learned over the years the importance of building routine into a calendar, so that important things are not always crowded out by the urgent things. Consider where in your life you might need to building in routines. 

• Going the extra mile matters – Part of my routine during my time at GHCC was to help wheel the residents back to their rooms or to the dining hall after the service was over. They had staff who were capable of doing these jobs, but it gave me the opportunity to spend more personal time with a few residents, as well as to lend a helping hand to the staff. To follow Christ means to serve, so look for opportunities to go the extra mile with people (Matthew 20:26-28).

I thank God for the privilege it is to share His gospel and His love with those who needs to know it, and I pray that God would give you opportunities to do the same.